British poet, painter, visionary mystic, and engraver, who illustrated and printed his own books, Blake proclaimed the supremacy of the imagination over the rationalism and materialism of the 18th-century. Misunderstanding shadowed his career as a writer and artist and it was left to later generations to recognize his importance.G. E. Bentley, Jr. has taught at the universities of Chicago and Toronto and is an authority on William Blake and his circle of friends. His most recent books include a 2-volume edition of Blake's Writings, The Stranger from Paradise: A Biography of William Blake (2001), and Blake Records (2004).